Many Christians believe that Christianity is under attack and that they are being persecuted, due to the sudden influx of atheist books. Christians should be terrified! After all, out of the 435 members of the United States House Of Representatives, 1 is an atheist! 1/435! Atheism is taking over the country! How many atheists are in the Senate? 0
Christianity isn't under attack. Atheism, agnosticism, and secular humanism have always been under attack. Atheism and agnosticism have always been under attack. When George H.W. Bush was running for President, he claimed that atheists should not even be considered citizens or patriots! Yes, as Bill Maher would say, if you don't believe that you have a long-term relationship with an all-powerful space daddy you are not a patriot!
Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are Atheists?
Bush (Senr): I guess I'm pretty weak in the Atheist community. Faith in god is important to me.
Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are Atheists?
Bush (Senr): No, I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?
Bush (Senr): Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on Atheists.
An incumbent Vice President Of The United States claims that he does not know whether or not atheists should be considered Patriots or even citizens, yet Bill O'Reilly is horrified when gay activists trick an Archbishop into giving them communion. Instead of focusing on a stupid little prank, Bill-O should worry about the pervert Priests in the Catholic Church that molest children, which the Catholic Church attempts to cover up. Poor Catholic Church... Gay men dressed in drag mess with a Catholic Church... That's abominable... What isn't abominable is the persecution of homosexuals by the Church over the years. Christianity, which is "under attack", is free to attack homosexuals and infidels, because it is their faith. Faith remains the trump card in our society. Persecute gays because you frankly hate gay people... you're a bigot... Persecute gays because the Bible says ,"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them" and because it is part of your faith... Well... we may disagree with you, but we still respect your faith... In our society, faith always seems to be the trump card. How the hell can Christians claim that they are under attack? George W. Bush is our President, and it is nearly impossible to be elected to public office without proclaiming your love for Jesus! Say anything you want about atheists, but you better not insult a person of faith!
Sadly, I used to believe this crap. I went to a fundamentalist Christian school. We were taught that society despised Christianity, and some teachers even claimed that the Bible will be a banned book in the near future. Christians might be jailed for proclaiming faith in Jesus and carrying a Bible. Now I know that the large majority of Christians find that idea as laughable as I find it; sadly, I believed it at the time. I was young and uninterested in politics, reading, and learning about anything that was not required. Most of the people I knew were Christians, so I did not have a clear vie of what many non-Christians thought about Christianity. I clearly believed that everyone was out to get Christians, and that American Christians were a persecuted, suppressed people. As I grew older and became interested in learning about different world views and politics, I was shocked to find out that there was not a widespread attempt to destroy Christianity in America. I found out that Christians or people pretending to be Christians were the ones running the show. I felt like an idiot for thinking otherwise.
Now, as an atheist, I frankly cannot stand hearing fundamentalist ring-wing Christians piss and moan about being assaulted by atheists. Just check out this poll!.
Most Americans still won't vote for a well-qualified atheist to be President, but the majority of voters were willing to vote for George W. Bush in 2004 ! Well qualified atheist?... You'll never get my vote... Incompetent evangelical Bush... You're my type of guy, because you have pray everyday! 72% of Americans would have no problem voting for for a person that wears "magic underwear" and believes that Native Americans are really Jews who's skin color was changed to brown because they were evil. 72% of Americans are willing to vote for someone who's church was officially racist for over 100 years, pending a revelation from god in 1978... Yet the majority of Americans won't vote for an atheist! 95% would vote for a Catholic. All other denominations of Christianity were not listed in the poll, and I'm sure that nearly 100% of Americans would be willing to vote for a Christian. And Roman Catholic Bill O'Reilly fears that Christians are starting to be ransacked by atheists....
A University Of Minnesota poll found that atheists are the least trusted minority in America; behind Muslims, homosexuals... Once again, I don't think that my fellow atheists have the potential to inflict much damage on the average Christian's way of life. In America, if you claim to believe in any god or religion, no matter how crazy it may be, you are exempt from being criticized, because faith is something that cannot come into question. If you're a lowly atheist, that's another story. But Christians are really a threatened group...
I was just messing around, looking random things up on Wikipedia the other day, and I found the following laws,
* Arkansas' Constitution of 1874 (Article 19, Section 1) states: "Atheists disqualified from holding office or testifying as witness. No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court."[18]
* North Carolina's Constitution of 1971 (Article 6, Section 8) states: "Disqualifications of office. The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God...."[19]. This was challenged and overturned by Voswinkel v. Hunt (1979).
* South Carolina's Constitution of 2006 (Article 6, Section 2) states: "Person denying existence of Supreme Being not to hold office. No person who denies the existence of the Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution."[20]
* Tennessee's Constitution/Bill of Rights (Article 9, Section 2) states: "No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state."[21]
* Texas' Constitution: The Bill of Rights (Article I, Section 4) last amended on September 13, 2003 states that an official may be "excluded from holding office" if she/he does not "acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."[22]
* Maryland's Bill of Rights:[23]
- Article 36: "That as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to Him, all persons are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty; wherefore, no person ought by any law to be molested in his person or estate, on account of his religious persuasion, or profession, or for his religious practice, unless, under the color of religion, he shall disturb the good order, peace or safety of the State, or shall infringe the laws of morality, or injure others in their natural, civil or religious rights; nor ought any person to be compelled to frequent, or maintain, or contribute, unless on contract, to maintain, any place of worship, or any ministry; nor shall any person, otherwise competent, be deemed incompetent as a witness, or juror, on account of his religious belief; provided, he believes in the existence of God, and that under His dispensation such person will be held morally accountable for his acts, and be rewarded or punished therefore either in this world or in the world to come."
- Article 37: "That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God; nor shall the Legislature prescribe any other oath of office than the oath prescribed by this Constitution." Source
Luckily, the federal Constitution trumps these laws. I'm just amazed that clowns like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Dinesh D'Souza fear for the safety of Christianity due to a couple o anti-religion, atheist books. Christians can believe that atheists are all going to hell and Christians can persecute and hate gays, because that is their faith. But god forbid an atheist challenges Christianity... That's just terrible... Christianity's under attack. Atheists are starting to take over! Watch out!
In reality, if anyone's going to complain that their belief (or unbelief) or lifestyle is under, atheists, agnostics, and homosexual should be the ones complaining and feeling oppressed. Give an atheist a break! Christians have dominated our country for so long. Right-wing Christian fundamentalists have the White House... Atheists have a couple of best selling books... Out of the 535 members of Congress, there are 532 Christians (correct me if I'm wrong)... Atheists get 1 spot in Congress. The fundamentalist "values voters" get to try and reshape the laws of our nation to persecute against gays and those who's lifestyles their faith disagrees with... gays get to have a couple of people to dress up in funny
clothes and trick an Archbishop into giving them communion. Christian churches receive tax exemptions and faith based initiatives... Atheists get nothing
To all the Christians on the Kos (I'm sure 99% of you don't think that your religion faces extinction due to a couple of books), please don't allow yourselves or members of your church to get tricked into believing this horse crap. Luckily, I think that the large majority of Christians don't buy into this crap, but I still find it funny that anyone could think that Christians are being treated unfairly. If you find yourselves believing this fallacy, due to something like "the war on Christmas", just remember that in order for someone to have a prayer to make it to public office, they have to convince everyone that they love Jesus, pray everyday, and love to go to church, while the atheist doesn't have a chance in hell of ever hoping to make it in politics (Pete Stark is the one exemption, the miracle). Just remember that some people actually care about what idiots like James Dobson and Pat Robertson have to say. Remember that political leaders actually look to these clowns to get elected to office. Remember that if these clown don't approve of a candidate, the candidate is probably screwed. Most of all, just remember that even though atheists may have a couple of best sellers on the charts, Christians still control our nation.